CuriosityStream Inc (CURI) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the CuriosityStream Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Briana, and I will be your conference operator today. Please note that this call is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加 CuriosityStream 2023 年第二季財報電話會議。我叫 Briana，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。請注意，此通話正在錄音。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn today's call over to Denise Garcia, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將今天的電話轉給投資者關係部門的丹尼斯·加西亞 (Denise Garcia)。請繼續。

Thanks, Briana. Welcome to CuriosityStream's discussion of its second quarter 2023 financial results. Leading the discussion today are Clint Stinchcomb, CuriosityStream's Chief Executive Officer; and Peter Westley, CuriosityStream's Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，布賴安娜。歡迎參加 CuriosityStream 對其 2023 年第二季財務表現的討論。今天主持討論的是 CuriosityStream 執行長 Clint Stinchcomb；以及 CuriosityStream 財務長 Peter Westley。

Following management's prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. But first, I'll review the safe harbor statement.

在管理層準備好的發言之後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。但首先，我將回顧安全港聲明。

During this call, we may make statements related to our business that are forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but rather are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements. Please be aware that any forward-looking statements reflect management's current views only, and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update these statements nor to make additional forward-looking statements in the future.

在本次電話會議中，我們可能會根據聯邦證券法做出與我們業務相關的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述並不是對未來績效的保證，而是受到各種風險、不確定性和假設的影響。我們的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中反映的預期有重大差異。請注意，任何前瞻性陳述僅反映管理階層目前的觀點，本公司不承擔修改或更新這些陳述的義務，也不承擔將來做出額外前瞻性陳述的義務。

For a discussion of the material risks and other important factors that could affect our actual results, please refer to our SEC filings available on the SEC website and on our Investor Relations website as well as the risks and other important factors discussed in today's press release.

有關可能影響我們實際結果的重大風險和其他重要因素的討論，請參閱 SEC 網站和投資者關係網站上提供的 SEC 文件以及今天新聞稿中討論的風險和其他重要因素。

Additional information will also be set forth in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, when filed. In addition, reference will be made to non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures can be found on our website at investors.curiositystream.com.

其他資訊也將在我們提交的截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的季度的 10-Q 表格季度報告中列出。此外，也將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非 GAAP 財務指標與可比較 GAAP 指標的調整表可在我們的網站 Investors.curiositystream.com 上找到。

Now I'll turn the call over to Clint.

現在我將把電話轉給克林特。

Thank you, Denise. Hello, everyone. I really appreciate you all joining us today, especially as I know we are not your first earnings call this August. Also with me on the call, our COO and General Counsel, Tia Cudahy; and our CFO, Peter Westley.

謝謝你，丹妮絲。大家好。我非常感謝你們今天加入我們，特別是因為我知道我們不是你們今年八月的第一次財報電話會議。與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的營運長兼總法律顧問 Tia Cudahy；和我們的財務長彼得·韋斯特利。

This was a good quarter for us as we move toward profitability. We improved our adjusted free cash flow for a third straight quarter and grew sequential revenue by 14%. We introduced our higher pricing to new direct customers into a small segment of our existing subscribers. We entered into meaningful and thoughtful licensing agreements with several new partners in the Middle East, the U.K. and Europe. We believe this ongoing expansion of our licensing partners, both by territory and platform will benefit us in the quarters to come.

隨著我們走向獲利，這個季度對我們來說是一個很好的季度。我們連續第三個季度改善了調整後的自由現金流，環比收入成長了 14%。我們向一小部分現有訂戶中的新直接客戶推出了更高的定價。我們與中東、英國和歐洲的幾個新合作夥伴簽訂了有意義且深思熟慮的授權協議。我們相信，我們的授權合作夥伴在地域和平台上的持續擴張將使我們在未來幾季受益。

In addition, in order to expand the top of our marketing and promotional funnel and further monetize our content, we will be rolling out certain titles and packages into broadcast network syndication for the first time and also with top AVOD partners beginning in Q4. Further, we opportunistically locked in performance-based marketing initiatives with exceptional content creators and influencers that we believe should increase awareness and subscriber acquisition, while at the same time, minimizing risk.

此外，為了擴大我們的行銷和促銷管道的頂部並進一步將我們的內容貨幣化，我們將首次在廣播網路聯合組織中推出某些標題和套餐，並從第四季度開始與頂級 AVOD 合作夥伴合作。此外，我們機會主義地與傑出的內容創作者和影響者一起實施基於效果的營銷計劃，我們認為這應該提高知名度和訂閱者獲取，同時最大限度地降低風險。

As I know we have some new people listening today, let me quickly review what we do and how we make money. Our overarching mission is constant and has never changed. Simply put, our mission is to help satisfy people's curiosity through enlightening premium factual films and programs and also through entertaining instructional talks from subject matter experts.

據我所知，今天我們有一些新人在聽，讓我快速回顧一下我們所做的事情以及我們如何賺錢。我們的首要使命始終如一，從未改變。簡而言之，我們的使命是透過啟發性的優質紀實電影和節目以及主題專家的有趣的教學講座來幫助滿足人們的好奇心。

Our efforts to be a go-to content service for anyone who wants to know more about the world are anchored by our flagship subscription service CuriosityStream. Today, anyone in more than 175 countries with a sufficient Internet connection can subscribe to standalone CuriosityStream for $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year or to our premium tier smart bundle, which contains over 30,000 titles from 6 different services for $9.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

我們致力於成為任何想要更多了解世界的人的首選內容服務，這一切都以我們的旗艦訂閱服務 CuriosityStream 為基礎。如今，超過175 個國家/地區擁有充足互聯網連接的任何人都可以以每月4.99 美元或每年39.99 美元的價格訂閱獨立的Cu​​riosityStream，或者以每月9.99 美元或每年69.99 美元的價格訂閱我們的高級智能捆綁包，其中包含來自6 個不同服務的30,000 多部圖書年。

It's important to not overly rely on a single direct subscription revenue line, we also monetize our content through third-party distribution relationships for our products and services in 11 different languages through third-party content licensing of distinct titles and packages and increasingly through advertising and brand partnerships.

重要的是不要過度依賴單一的直接訂閱收入線，我們還透過第三方分銷關係將我們的內容貨幣化，以11 種不同的語言提供我們的產品和服務，透過不同標題和套餐的第三方內容許可，並且越來越多地透過廣告和品牌合作夥伴關係。

Well, Peter will discuss our financials in greater detail later in the call, I couldn't be more enthusiastic about our path to positive adjusted free cash flow, a milestone that we believe we are closing in on. On the expense side, we reduced G&A expense by approximately 25% year-over-year in Q2, and we'll continue to work to bring this spending down further. We've spoken previously to our spending reductions associated with programming and marketing.

好吧，彼得將在稍後的電話會議中更詳細地討論我們的財務狀況，我對我們通往正調整自由現金流的道路充滿熱情，我們相信我們正在接近這一里程碑。在費用方面，我們第二季的一般管理費用年減了約 25%，我們將繼續努力進一步降低這筆支出。我們之前已經談到了與節目製作和行銷相關的支出削減。

Our marketing spend for the second quarter of 2023 was down 63% year-over-year, while direct revenues were roughly comparable, down less than 3%. The only increasing costs projected for the second half of 2023 as compared to the first half is marketing, which is 100% in our control and where increased spend is a function of meeting internal growth performance metrics.

我們 2023 年第二季的行銷支出年減 63%，而直接收入大致相當，下降不到 3%。與上半年相比，預計 2023 年下半年唯一增加的成本是行銷，這是我們 100% 控制的，支出的增加是滿足內部成長績效指標的函數。

On the revenue side, our new pricing will take until late 2024 to fully roll through the P&L. To be clear, it doesn't just happen in one fell swoop. While all new customers are seeing our increased pricing and we -- while we are rolling it out now to most monthly cohorts, our subscribers on annual plans won't see new pricing until their plans come up for renewal over the course of the year.

在營收方面，我們的新定價要到 2024 年底才能完全計入損益表。需要明確的是，這並不是一下子發生的。雖然所有新客戶都看到了我們提高的價格，而且我們現在正在向大多數每月的群體推出它，但我們的年度計劃訂戶在他們的計劃在一年中進行續訂之前不會看到新的定價。

Further, most of our channel store and App Store partners, while they have it on the near-term roadmap but not yet commercially launched their new pricing. This is why I said at the beginning of my remarks that new pricing has been launched only a small segment of our direct subscriber base. So we expect steady growth as a result of increased pricing associated with our core service and also from our premium tier Smart Bundle, a higher-margin service offering that is growing in part as a result of its closer pricing proximity with CuriosityStream as a standalone service. While I've not talked much about One Day University, ODU subscribers are indeed growing, and ODU is also proving to be a helpful lever and offering for certain existing cohorts contemplating renewal. We believe the third-party demand to license and distribute our content and services is strong and growing. And in addition to traditional legacy licensing partners, non-traditional licensing partners are also emerging.

此外，我們大多數的通路商店和應用程式商店合作夥伴雖然已將其列入近期路線圖，但尚未在商業上推出新的定價。這就是為什麼我在發言開始時表示，新定價僅針對我們直接訂戶群的一小部分推出。因此，我們預計，由於與我們的核心服務相關的定價上漲以及我們的高級智慧捆綁包（一種利潤率較高的服務產品）的價格上漲，該產品的增長部分是由於其與作為獨立服務的CuriosityStream 的定價更加接近，因此我們預計會實現穩定增長。 。雖然我沒有過多談論一日大學，但 ODU 訂戶確實在成長，而 ODU 也被證明是一個有用的槓桿，並為某些考慮續約的現有群體提供服務。我們相信第三方對授權和分發我們的內容和服務的需求強勁且不斷增長。除了傳統的授權合作夥伴之外，非傳統的授權合作夥伴也不斷出現。

As just one example, we believe we are in the infant stage of a mini broadcast digital channel renaissance catalyzed by ATSC 3.0, which increases the station group's need for content and services for their existing services and for the new ones they want to create. Historically, this has not been an internal functional expertise for them. The top North American AVOD players have plenty of overall volume, but are still light in some key categories where we believe we can help. Outside the U.S., AVOD is more nascent. So while the overall AVOD licensing revenue opportunity is less than in the U.S., we believe the demand for content is greater.

舉一個例子，我們相信我們正處於由 ATSC 3.0 推動的迷你廣播數位頻道復興的嬰兒階段，這增加了電視台集團對其現有服務以及他們想要創建的新服務的內容和服務的需求。從歷史上看，這並不是他們的內部職能專業知識。北美頂尖的 AVOD 播放器總體銷量很大，但在一些我們相信可以提供幫助的關鍵類別上仍然較少。在美國以外，AVOD 才剛起步。因此，雖然整體 AVOD 授權收入機會低於美國，但我們認為對內容的需求更大。

As I've been asked, if the current disruption to new content creation is helpful to us, I would say that we believe it provided no identifiable incremental benefit to quarter of 2023 or the first half of Q3. We also anticipate steady, sustainable long-term advertising and sponsorship revenue growth and increased consumer awareness as we place certain content into AVOD FAST and broadcast syndication.

正如我被問到的那樣，目前對新內容創作的干擾是否對我們有幫助，我想說的是，我們認為它不會為 2023 年季度或第三季上半年帶來明顯的增量收益。我們也預計，隨著我們將某些內容放入 AVOD FAST 和廣播聯合組織中，廣告和贊助收入將實現穩定、可持續的長期成長，並提高消費者意識。

Moving to content. While our critical mass library of more than 15,000 programs has enabled us to reduce our year-over-year cash content spend also by 63%, we added hundreds of new titles and some underserved factual genres like money and finance and more in tried and true genres like modern history, tech and biographies, all within our planned content budget.

轉向內容。雖然我們擁有超過15,000 個節目的臨界質量庫使我們能夠將現金內容支出同比減少63%，但我們添加了數百個新標題和一些服務不足的事實類型，例如金錢和金融等，並且經過驗證，確實如此現代歷史、科技和傳記等類型，都在我們計劃的內容預算之內。

As to what's on the screen now, we kicked off the quarter with the premiere of Lift the Ice, the global 6-part series that filmed 20 expeditions across 12 countries and 5 continents, showcasing the harshest spots on the earth and revealing surprising secrets from our planets melting cryosphere, from ancient viruses to new clues about the location of Alien Life. In May, we premiered our series GIANTS. We're world-renowned naturalist, Dan O'Neill tracks down the planet's biggest creatures. These are the ones that can eat you and compares them with the help of CGI to the nastiest beasts that have ever roamed our planet. On the science and tech front, we continue to produce timely, deep dives into trending stories of the day with specials like Attack of the Zombie Fungus, a wild look at the true story and science behind the HBO hit series, The Last of Us. Our popular Breakthrough franchise premiered Jupiter's Moons and The Search for Life, which probes new missions that may answer astronomy's biggest question and our new special roundup 2023 is A Space Odyssey. Comprehensive look at some of the year's biggest space stories.

至於現在上映的內容，我們以《Lift the Ice》的首映拉開了本季的序幕，這是一部由6 部分組成的全球連續劇，拍攝了跨越12 個國家和5 大洲的20 次探險活動，展示了地球上最嚴酷的地點，並揭示了令人驚訝的秘密我們的行星正在融化冰凍圈，從古老的病毒到有關外星生命位置的新線索。五月，我們首映了《GIANTS》系列。我們是世界著名的自然學家，丹·奧尼爾追蹤地球上最大的生物。這些是可以吃掉你的生物，並在 CGI 的幫助下將它們與曾經在我們星球上漫步的最噁心的野獸進行比較。在科學和技術方面，我們繼續及時、深入地探討當今的熱門故事，其中包括《殭屍真菌的襲擊》等特別節目，對HBO 熱門劇集《最後生還者》背後的真實故事和科學進行瘋狂的觀察。我們廣受歡迎的《突破》系列首映了《木星的衛星》和《尋找生命》，它們探討了可能回答天文學最大問題的新任務，而我們的 2023 年新特別綜述是《太空漫遊》。全面了解今年一些最大的太空故事。

We also continue in our quest to share compelling untold tails from the past. Our series War Gamers is the story of a small group of British women, who came up with the winning tactics to defeat deadly Nazis boats in the battle of the Atlantic. Unearthed: Ancient Murder Mysteries is a series that places legendary homicide detective Rod Demery, back in time to solve some of history's most notorious cold cases.

我們也將繼續尋求分享過去令人信服的不為人知的尾巴。我們的《戰爭遊戲玩家》系列講述了一小群英國女性的故事，她們想出了在大西洋戰役中擊敗致命納粹船隻的勝利策略。 《出土：古代謀殺之謎》是一個系列，講述傳奇兇殺案偵探羅德·德默里回到過去，偵破一些歷史上最臭名昭著的懸案。

Among other in premiers, we capped off the quarter with one of our most ambitious original productions to date. The 4-part series, The Real Wild West, which tells the beautiful broad story of the emergence of the American West and at the same time, tells the stories of the heroes and influencers you perhaps have never heard of. Black and Hispanic cowboys and leaders like (inaudible) Nat Love, Bill Pickett, female homesteaders, Chinese immigrants, and native Americans like Crazy Horse and Sacagawea. This series is presented by the Grammy award-winning artist, Dom Flemons and based on consumer assumption and press coverage from Entertainment Weekly to Cowboys & Indians to Rolling Stone, The Real Wild West series itself seems to be emerging into the cultural zeitgeist.

在首映的其他作品中，我們以迄今為止最雄心勃勃的原創作品之一結束了本季。這部由 4 部分組成的系列劇《真正的狂野西部》講述了美國西部崛起的美麗故事，同時講述了您可能從未聽說過的英雄和影響者的故事。黑人和西班牙裔牛仔以及（聽不清楚）納特·洛夫（Nat Love）、比爾·皮克特（Bill Pickett）等領袖、女性自耕農、中國移民以及瘋馬（Crazy Horse）和薩卡加維亞（Sacagawea）等美國原住民。該系列由格萊美獎獲獎藝術家多姆·弗萊蒙(Dom Flemons) 推出，基於消費者假設以及《娛樂周刊》、《牛仔與印第安人》、《滾石》等媒體報道，《真實狂野西部》系列本身似乎正在融入文化時代精神。

Let me close by sharing what we've said in the past. In a transitioning media and tech environment filled with choppy water where many companies have overspent and some are trying belatedly to of course correct, we like our hand. We believe we move closer every day during the quarter and generating optimized and sustainable levels of cash. Further, at a time when content creation has slowed and large media companies scramble to rationalize product portfolios and costs, many of their secondary and tertiary services are struggling as are many undercapitalized independents.

最後，讓我分享一下我們過去所說的話。在充滿波濤洶湧的媒體和科技環境轉型中，許多公司都超支了，而有些公司卻遲來地試圖糾正，我們喜歡我們的手。我們相信，我們在本季每天都會更接近目標，並產生優化且可持續的現金水準。此外，在內容創作放緩、大型媒體公司爭先恐後地合理化產品組合和成本之際，他們的許多二級和三級服務都在苦苦掙扎，許多資本不足的獨立媒體也是如此。

We believe that consumers and an expanding roster of third-party buyers, we'll continue to place an even higher value on existing premium factual content and brand-safe relationships. In sum, we believe that our direct subscriber base, our broad and deep content library, our multiyear partner agreements, our strong cash position, our public market currency and our lack of debt are uniquely favorable attributes that provide us with a firm foundation and exceptional flexibility.

我們相信，消費者和不斷擴大的第三方買家名單，我們將繼續更加重視現有的優質事實內容和品牌安全關係。總而言之，我們相信，我們的直接訂閱者基礎、廣泛而深入的內容庫、多年合作夥伴協議、強大的現金狀況、公開市場貨幣和缺乏債務是獨特的有利屬性，為我們提供了堅實的基礎和卓越的品質。靈活性。

I'd like to now pass the baton to my friend and colleague, our CFO, Peter Westley.

現在我想將接力棒交給我的朋友兼同事、我們的財務長 Peter Westley。

Thanks, Clint. During the second quarter, we believe we continued to make good progress on our path to positive adjusted free cash flow while delivering on our near-term financial commitments. We introduced our increased pricing for new direct subscribers and tested to find the most effective ways to increase the prices paid by our existing subscribers. Those increases for existing subscribers are being put into full effect this quarter. On the cost side, we remain disciplined in our spending. As a result of our focused execution, second quarter revenue and adjusted free cash flow were in line with our guidance ranges.

謝謝，克林特。在第二季度，我們相信我們在實現正調整自由現金流的道路上繼續取得良好進展，同時履行了我們的近期財務承諾。我們為新的直接訂閱者推出了提高定價的方案，並進行了測試，以找到提高現有訂閱者支付的價格的最有效方法。現有訂戶的增加將於本季全面生效。在成本方面，我們仍然嚴格控制支出。由於我們專注執行，第二季收入和調整後的自由現金流符合我們的指導範圍。

Turning to our second quarter results. Revenue was $14.1 million compared to $22.3 million in the prior year quarter. The year-over-year change was primarily driven by decreases in content licensing, bundle distribution and enterprise revenues. Our largest revenue category this quarter was our direct business. Direct revenue came in at $8.3 million, a 3% decrease compared with the second quarter of 2022. As Clint mentioned, this slight decrease came despite a 63% year-over-year reduction in marketing expenses during the quarter.

轉向我們第二季的業績。營收為 1,410 萬美元，去年同期營收為 2,230 萬美元。同比變化主要是由內容授權、捆綁發行和企業收入的減少所推動的。本季我們最大的收入類別是我們的直接業務。直接收入為 830 萬美元，較 2022 年第二季下降 3%。正如克林特所提到的，儘管本季行銷費用年減 63%，但仍出現小幅下降。

We expect direct revenues to grow sequentially in the third quarter as the impact of the price increases to new and existing subscribers begins to flow into the financial results. However, it will take a full year or more for the impact of these price increases to completely flow through our financial statements given the fact that the significant majority of our direct subscribers are currently on annual subscription plans. We expect this positive impact to begin to materialize in the third quarter of 2023.

我們預計，隨著價格上漲對新用戶和現有用戶的影響開始流入財務業績，第三季直接收入將季增。然而，考慮到我們絕大多數直接訂閱者目前都採用年度訂閱計劃，這些價格上漲的影響需要一整年或更長時間才能完全體現在我們的財務報表中。我們預計這種正面影響將於 2023 年第三季開始顯現。

Turning to content licensing, which was our second largest revenue category this quarter, we generated $3.6 million of revenue compared with $6.7 million in the prior year quarter. The profitability of those revenues was much higher this year however, as more than 80% of our content licensing revenues in the second quarter of 2022 were zero margin presales deals and more than 80% of our content licensing revenues in the second quarter of 2023 were attractive margin library licensing deals.

內容授權是我們本季的第二大收入類別，我們創造了 360 萬美元的收入，而去年同期為 670 萬美元。然而，今年這些收入的獲利能力要高得多，因為2022 年第二季我們超過80% 的內容授權收入是零利潤預售交易，而2023 年第二季我們超過80% 的內容授權收入為零利潤預售交易。具有吸引力的圖書館許可交易利潤。

Our next largest category was bundled distribution, which generated $1.5 million of revenue in the quarter. If we deduct $2.6 million of revenue from the second quarter of 2022, related to a contract that we did not renew in the middle of last year, bundled distribution revenue would have grown 13% year-over-year.

我們的下一個最大類別是捆綁分銷，該類別在本季度創造了 150 萬美元的收入。如果我們從 2022 年第二季扣除與去年年中未續約的合約相關的 260 萬美元收入，捆綁分銷收入將年增 13%。

Second quarter gross margin of 29.5% decreased from 41.9% in the prior year quarter, driven by lower year-over-year revenue but improved from 27.3% in the first quarter. The sequential improvement in gross margin was primarily driven by growth in library-based content licensing deals during the second quarter. Our second quarter advertising and marketing expense of $4.2 million was down $7 million year-over-year as we remain intent on maintaining tight discipline around our marketing spend.

由於營收年減，第二季毛利率為 29.5%，較去年同期的 41.9% 有所下降，但較第一季的 27.3% 有所改善。毛利率的環比改善主要是由第二季度基於圖書館的內容許可交易的增長所推動的。我們第二季的廣告和行銷費用為 420 萬美元，年減 700 萬美元，因為我們仍然致力於對行銷支出保持嚴格的紀律。

G&A expense during the second quarter of 2023 was $8 million -- of $8 million was down $2.6 million or 25% year-over-year. We will continue to focus on looking for ways to bring this spending down going forward.

2023 年第二季的一般管理費用為 800 萬美元，比去年同期的 800 萬美元減少了 260 萬美元，即 25%。我們將繼續致力於尋找未來減少支出的方法。

Moving to profitability. Adjusted EBITDA loss of $6.5 million was 39% less than our $10.6 million loss in the prior year period. Second quarter cash spend on content was $3.3 million, down $5.6 million or 63% compared with the prior year quarter as we continue to benefit from the critical mass library of content that we have built.

轉向盈利。調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 650 萬美元，比去年同期虧損 1,060 萬美元減少了 39%。第二季內容現金支出為 330 萬美元，比去年同期減少 560 萬美元，或 63%，因為我們繼續受益於我們建立的大量內容庫。

Adjusted free cash flow use of $4.3 million improved $1.7 million year-over-year and $2 million sequentially. This represents our third consecutive quarter of sequentially improving adjusted free cash flow and underscores our continued momentum towards positive adjusted free cash flow. We think that this metric is a particularly useful guide for investors as to the underlying economic realities of our business, which is why it's one of the financial figures we use in our forward-looking guidance.

調整後自由現金流使用量為 430 萬美元，較去年同期增加 170 萬美元，季增 200 萬美元。這代表我們連續第三個季度調整後自由現金流連續改善，並突顯了我們調整後自由現金流正向成長的持續動能。我們認為，這項指標對於投資者了解我們業務的基本經濟現實來說是一個特別有用的指南，這就是為什麼它是我們在前瞻性指導中使用的財務數據之一。

At the end of the second quarter, cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash totaled $44.8 million. We had no outstanding debt at the end of the quarter, and we believe our overall balance sheet remained in great shape with $133 million of assets and $30 million of liabilities, translating into book value of $103 million or approximately $1.94 per share.

截至第二季末，現金、現金等價物和限制性現金總計 4,480 萬美元。截至本季末，我們沒有未償債務，我們相信我們的整體資產負債表仍保持良好狀態，資產為1.33 億美元，負債為3000 萬美元，帳面價值為1.03 億美元，約合每股1.94 美元。

One other item worth noting is that we conducted an impairment analysis that is reflected in this quarter's financial statements. That analysis determined that the fair value of our investment in the German TV joint venture exceeded the carrying value as of June 30. And as a result, we recorded a $2 million noncash impairment related to that investment during the quarter.

另一件值得注意的事情是我們進行了減損分析，該分析反映在本季的財務報表中。該分析確定，我們對德國電視合資企業的投資的公允價值超過了截至 6 月 30 日的帳面價值。因此，我們在本季度記錄了與該投資相關的 200 萬美元非現金減損。

Before I turn to our guidance, I thought it would be worth taking a moment to revisit our prior comment, the Q1 2023 would be a trough for us as we look to build from there. If you look at our second quarter results, you'll see that sequentially we increased our revenues by 14%, our gross margin by more than 200 basis points and our adjusted free cash flow by $2 million. We like the trajectory of the business.

在我轉向我們的指導之前，我認為值得花點時間重新審視我們先前的評論，2023 年第一季對我們來說將是一個低谷，因為我們希望在此基礎上繼續發展。如果您查看我們第二季的業績，您會發現我們的收入連續增加了 14%，毛利率增加了 200 個基點以上，調整後的自由現金流增加了 200 萬美元。我們喜歡該業務的發展軌跡。

Moving to our third quarter guidance. We expect revenue in the range of $13.5 million to $15.5 million and adjusted free cash flow in the range of negative $5.5 million to negative $3.5 million.

轉向我們的第三季指引。我們預計收入將在 1350 萬美元至 1550 萬美元之間，調整後的自由現金流將在負 550 萬美元至負 350 萬美元之間。

I'd also like to revisit the guidepost that we laid out previously related to certain expense items for the year. We continue to expect that our cash spend on content for the year will be in the $10 million to $15 million range, but we are lowering our expected expenses for the 2 other categories that we discussed previously. We now expect content amortization for the year to be $22 million to $27 million, which is down from our $25 million to $30 million prior estimate and we expect advertising and marketing expense to be $17 million to $22 million, down from our $20 million to $25 million prior estimate. As we look to increase our marketing spending in the second half of the year, while continuing to maintain discipline around this effort.

我還想重新審視我們之前製定的與今年某些費用項目相關的指南。我們仍然預計今年在內容上的現金支出將在 1000 萬美元至 1500 萬美元之間，但我們正在降低先前討論的其他 2 個類別的預期支出。我們現在預計今年的內容攤銷為2200 萬至2700 萬美元，低於我們之前預測的2500 萬至3000 萬美元，我們預計廣告和營銷費用為1700 萬至2200 萬美元，低於我們之前的2000 萬至25 美元百萬先前估計。我們希望在下半年增加行銷支出，同時繼續保持這項努力的紀律。

Before turning the call over to the operator for questions, I wanted to highlight one final housekeeping item related to our options and restricted stock units. As you will see in Note 14 to our financial statements in the 10-Q that we filed with the SEC this afternoon, in July, following approval by the company's Board of Directors and shareholders, we exchanged approximately 4.6 million employee stock options for 1.6 million restricted stock units of an equivalent fair value, a net reduction of 3 million fully diluted shares for the company.

在將電話轉給接線員詢問問題之前，我想強調最後一項與我們的選擇權和限制性股票單位相關的內務事項。正如您將在我們今天下午向SEC 提交的10-Q 財務報表附註14 中看到的那樣，7 月份，經過公司董事會和股東的批准，我們用大約460 萬份員工股票期權交換了160 萬份員工股票選擇權。相當於公允價值的限制性股票單位，公司淨減持完全稀釋股份300萬股。

With that, operator, let's open the call to questions.

那麼，接線員，讓我們開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Laura Martin with Needham.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自Laura Martin 和Needham。

Maybe just a couple. So the margins were lovely on this content licensing. But my question is, is that really recurring? Because when you content a license, you can't only do it once and then you can't really content a license again. So is it really a recurring positive for you, the margin expansion is coming from content licensing. That's my first one.

也許只是一對。因此，內容許可的利潤非常可觀。但我的問題是，這種情況真的會反覆發生嗎？因為當您獲得許可證時，您不能只執行一次，然後就無法真正再次獲得許可證。那麼，這對你來說真的是一個反覆出現的正面因素嗎？利潤的成長來自於內容授權。這是我的第一個。

Yes, that's a great question, Laura. And I would say that in light of -- if you're only a U.S.-based company or only focused on one region, I think it might be challenging. But in our case, because of the global appeal of the content, I think because of the emergence of kind of non-traditional licensing partners, we don't really see any end insight there. We had, I think, 13 different licensing partners in the quarter. We entered into those agreements in what I would say was thoughtfully and meaningfully. And we don't anticipate any cannibalistic impact and really believe that in certain parts of the world, especially just the presence of our content will be a positive for generating increased awareness.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，勞拉。我想說的是，如果你只是一家總部位於美國的公司或只專注於一個地區，我認為這可能具有挑戰性。但就我們而言，由於內容的全球吸引力，我認為由於非傳統授權合作夥伴的出現，我們並沒有真正看到任何最終的見解。我認為本季我們有 13 個不同的授權合作夥伴。我認為我們簽署這些協議是經過深思熟慮且有意義的。我們預計不會產生任何同類相食的影響，並且真正相信，在世界某些地區，尤其是我們內容的存在將對提高認識產生積極影響。

Cool. And then my second question is, could you give us an update on what's happening with the FAST channels and the ad revenue stream progress, please?

涼爽的。我的第二個問題是，您能否向我們介紹一下 FAST 頻道的最新情況以及廣告收入流的進展？

Yes. So we signaled to that a little bit. We will be rolling out in the fourth quarter with large AVOD platforms, and then we'll be also putting some content into a broadcast syndication. And the same goes for FAST. We've been encouraged, obviously, to do this for a while. We want to make sure that we crafted deals that made sense because, as you know, it's easy to just stick a FAST channel out there. It's easy to just put AVOD content out there. But if you're not aligned with the large platforms, if you don't have any promotion and if you don't have the right positioning, you risk yelling into the wind.

是的。所以我們對此發出了一點訊號。我們將在第四季度推出大型 AVOD 平台，然後我們也將把一些內容放入廣播聯合組織中。 FAST 也是如此。顯然，我們已經被鼓勵這樣做有一段時間了。我們希望確保我們制定的交易有意義，因為如您所知，很容易在那裡建立快速通道。將 AVOD 內容放在那裡很容易。但如果你不與大平台結盟，如果你沒有任何促銷，如果你沒有正確的定位，你就有可能在風中大喊大叫。

So we want to be real thoughtful about this and create a revenue stream that is growing every quarter, and we think we can really build on and that we think will be really additive to what we're doing even in the subscription space through enhancing the top of the funnel.

因此，我們希望真正考慮到這一點，並創造一個每個季度都在成長的收入流，我們認為我們可以真正在此基礎上發展，並且我們認為透過增強訂閱空間，我們認為這將真正增加我們正在做的事情漏斗頂部。

If I could add just a little bit, Laura. The -- those revenues appear in our other revenue category. That category had $622,000 of revenues in the second quarter. That was up from $274,000 in the first quarter and down from $1.7 million in the second quarter of 2022, but that quarter had $1.6 million of the $1.7 million was related party revenue. So non-related party revenue was roughly $100,000 a year ago. So that is a category that has experienced some nice growth when you subtract out the related party revenue a year ago.

如果我可以補充一點，蘿拉。這些收入出現在我們的其他收入類別中。該類別第二季的收入為 622,000 美元。這高於第一季的 274,000 美元，低於 2022 年第二季的 170 萬美元，但該季度 170 萬美元中有 160 萬美元是關聯方收入。因此，一年前的非關聯方收入約為 10 萬美元。因此，當你減去一年前的關聯方收入時，這個類別經歷了一些不錯的成長。

Your next question comes from Peter Henderson with Bank of America.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Peter Henderson。

I guess -- I'd like to start, I know you haven't passed through the price increases across the entire base. I'm just kind of curious, though, for where you have instituted the price increases, if you can sort of discuss the response or what kind of trend you're seeing or people are not on annual plans? And then finally, when do you actually expect to have the price increases through the entire base? I mean, I guess, what percentage of you could remind us? What percentage of the base is on annual plans at this point?

我想 - 我想開始，我知道你還沒有經歷整個基地的價格上漲。不過，我只是有點好奇你們在哪裡制定了價格上漲，是否可以討論一下反應或你看到的趨勢或人們沒有參加年度計劃？最後，您實際上預計什麼時候整個基地的價格都會上漲？我的意思是，我想你們當中有多少人可以提醒我們？目前年度計劃佔基數的百分比是多少？

Yes. So what we are seeing of our B2C customer base, the vast majority of those folks are on annual plans of the existing subscriber base, north of 90%. Our partner direct revenues is more of a monthly cycle of subscriber rate. We are seeing, as we -- so we did a lot of testing this quarter about -- with different cohorts of our subscriber base, depending on whether you were monthly or annual, what type of price point you were paying out, what type of package you were you are coming in at. We tried and we tested a whole bunch of different trials to see how best to pass through price increases, what packages would generate the best outcomes for us. And so we are starting to see some increase in that pricing start to flow through the financials now, early days.

是的。因此，從我們的 B2C 客戶群來看，絕大多數人都採用現有訂閱者群的年度計劃，超過 90%。我們的合作夥伴直接收入更多的是訂閱率的每月週期。我們看到，正如我們本季度對不同的訂戶群體進行了大量測試一樣，這取決於您是按月還是按年、您支付的價格點類型、什麼類型的訂閱者。您進來時的包裹。我們嘗試並測試了一大堆不同的試驗，看看如何最好地度過價格上漲，什麼套餐將為我們帶來最好的結果。因此，我們開始看到定價的一些成長開始影響到財務狀況，現在是早期。

We're also seeing a slight increase in churn, which was not -- which was fully anticipated. And what we're seeing was well within the range of what was anticipated. But as you expect and as we -- when we talk about this price increase, to begin with, we expect that the economic benefit of the price increase, given the magnitude of the increases will offset -- much more than offset any increase we see as a result of churn that happens with the existing subscriber base.

我們也看到客戶流失率略有增加，這是完全預料不到的。我們所看到的情況完全在預期範圍內。但正如您所期望的那樣，當我們談論這次價格上漲時，首先，考慮到上漲的幅度，我們預計價格上漲的經濟效益將被抵消——遠遠超過抵消我們看到的任何上漲由於現有訂戶群發生流失。

Your next question comes from Jim Goss with Barrington Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Jim Goss。

I'd like to follow up a little on what Laura was asking about the licensing and probably also the response with this global appeal, which we recognize as an advantage. Wondering what the cost might be to ready the content for other markets? Is it minimal or do you think substantial? How key category do you expect that to be? And what level of consistency do you think it might have within the income statement?

我想跟進勞拉詢問的有關許可的問題，或許還有對全球呼籲的回應，我們認為這是一個優勢。想知道為其他市場準備內容可能需要多少成本？它是最小的還是你認為很重要？您認為該類別有多重要？您認為損益表中的一致性程度如何？

Excellent questions. Jim, thank you for asking those. In regard to localizing and languaging our content, there's a range of costs. The good news is that we believe, over time, that will come down considerably, particularly if we're able to take advantage of generative AI solutions that are out there. I will say that in our case, a lot of our languaging is behind us. We've -- as part of MVPD distribution agreements that we entered into; we had some licensing obligations. So we have most of that is in our rearview mirror. We'll continue to license kind of moderately going forward. But I think the good news is like the price has come down, which has given us and the fact that we've just done a lot has really provided us with a lot of flexibility going forward.

很好的問題。吉姆，謝謝你提出這些問題。在在地化和語言化我們的內容方面，存在一系列成本。好消息是，我們相信，隨著時間的推移，這種情況將會大幅下降，特別是如果我們能夠利用現有的生成式人工智慧解決方案的話。我想說的是，就我們而言，我們的許多語言都已經過去了。作為我們簽訂的 MVPD 分銷協議的一部分，我們已經；我們有一些許可義務。所以我們的大部分內容都在我們的後視鏡中。我們將繼續適度地發放許可。但我認為好消息是價格下降了，這給我們帶來了好處，而且我們剛剛做了很多事情，這確實為我們未來提供了很大的靈活性。

And again, there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of licensing partners when you have, thankfully, premium factual content that you can put anywhere into the world. So actually, we like that trend. And I think that -- I think you could really argue that we've been a little too precious about our content in the past, and we have a lot of different people that we can work with going forward, and we just want to make sure that we do that in the most thoughtful, meaningful way.

值得慶幸的是，當您擁有可以將其發佈到世界任何地方的優質事實內容時，就會有成百上千的許可合作夥伴。事實上，我們喜歡這種趨勢。我認為——我想你真的可以說我們過去對我們的內容有點太珍貴了，我們有很多不同的人可以一起工作，我們只是想讓確保我們以最深思熟慮、最有意義的方式做到這一點。

Yes. I do think just kind of following up on Clint's comments. It will continue to be a bit lumpier category for us in some of our other categories. Obviously, the direct business, for example, is -- tends to be just a kind of a smoother line in terms of what you're seeing and content licensing deals can be big and lumpy. But the fact that we're bringing in increasing number of content licensing partners makes us very -- feel us very good about kind of the sustainability and repeatability of that part of the business.

是的。我確實認為只是跟進克林特的評論。對於我們的其他一些類別來說，它仍然會是一個比較笨重的類別。顯然，例如，就您所看到的內容而言，直接業務往往只是一種更平滑的路線，而內容授權交易可能規模龐大且不穩定。但事實上，我們引入了越來越多的內容授權合作夥伴，這讓我們對這部分業務的可持續性和可重複性感到非常滿意。

Okay. And just one other thing. In terms of the price increases you were trying to put into effect, would you say you're getting not very much resistance from those you're offering the service at a higher price? Or can you give any guidance as to share of individuals who are staying with you versus declining?

好的。還有一件事。就您試圖實施的價格上漲而言，您是否會說您並沒有受到那些以更高價格提供服務的人的極大阻力？或者您能否就留在您身邊的人和拒絕的人的比例提供任何指導？

Yes. So I mean, we've seen a slight uptick in terms of people leaving the service relative to what we had experienced before we had price increases. But again, it's well more than offset by the positive impact of the increases themselves. And a lot of what we spent the second quarter doing with different cohorts was looking at what would be the offers that would be most positively received and most likely to bring people -- have people continue to stay on the service, but at a higher price point.

是的。所以我的意思是，與價格上漲之前相比，我們看到離開該服務的人數略有上升。但同樣，這遠遠被漲價本身的正面影響所抵消。我們在第二季度與不同群體所做的很多事情都是在研究哪些報價最容易受到歡迎並且最有可能吸引人們——讓人們繼續使用該服務，但價格更高觀點。

So that could be, for example, bundling in ODU with the renewal of a CuriosityStream subscription. It could be encouraging people to upgrade to Smart Bundle, which is, Clint said is no longer at such a premium price point to the now standalone price point for CuriosityStream. So a lot of work and effort was done with different groups to figure out what the best offer for each of them was. And -- the -- so we are seeing some slight upticks in some of the metrics in terms of people leaving, but again, well within the range of what was anticipated.

例如，這可能是將 ODU 與 CuriosityStream 訂閱的續訂捆綁在一起。這可能會鼓勵人們升級到 Smart Bundle，克林特表示，與 CuriosityStream 現在的獨立價格點相比，Smart Bundle 的價格不再那麼高。因此，我們與不同的團隊進行了大量的工作和努力，以確定對每個人來說最好的報價是什麼。因此，我們看到人員離職方面的一些指標略有上升，但同樣完全在預期範圍之內。

We should have increased pricing earlier, Jim, to trade will take any day.

吉姆，我們應該早點提高定價，因為交易隨時都會發生。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from Tom Forte with D.A. Davidson.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Tom Forte。戴維森。

This is Sharanjit on for Tom Forte. My first question is how, if at all, are you affected by the writers and actors strikes we would think that you are relatively well positioned versus your peers, given that it seems though you are less reliant on writers and actors.

這是 Tom Forte 的 Sharanjit。我的第一個問題是，如果有的話，您是否受到編劇和演員罷工的影響，我們認為您與同齡人相比處於相對有利的地位，因為您似乎不太依賴作家和演員。

Thank you for asking that, Sharanjit. I think we're better aligned than most in the industry. And we've seen no impact in regard to our massing of content, either through creation and acquisition and we've seen no identifiable impact to licensing revenue. Should it continue for a long time, I think it could create a small tailwinds, but we haven't even seen that to date.

謝謝你的提問，Sharanjit。我認為我們比業內大多數公司都更協調。我們沒有看到我們的內容聚合受到任何影響，無論是透過創建還是收購，我們也沒有看到對授權收入產生明顯的影響。如果它持續很長一段時間，我認為它可能會產生一個小的順風，但迄今為止我們還沒有看到這種情況。

And for my second question, Disney seems more interested in partnering with companies than it has been in the past. And the best example right now is its online betting effort with Penn Entertainment and given its focus on content from National Geographic, is there an opportunity for CuriosityStream to work more closely with Disney? Especially as it ramps its efforts to cut costs, including for content?

對於我的第二個問題，迪士尼似乎比過去更願意與公司合作。目前最好的例子是與 Penn Entertainment 合作的線上博彩業務，並考慮到其重點關注《國家地理》的內容，CuriosityStream 是否有機會與迪士尼進行更密切的合作？尤其是當它加強削減成本（包括內容成本）時？

Thank you for asking that as well, Sharanjit. I would say as sure as the sun will set in the West, bundling offers and alliances will increase. We've always believed that, and we will leverage those opportunities appropriately. Even for our premium tier Smart Bundle that Peter just talked about, we're receiving new inquiries and requests every week to be a part of that. And so I won't speak specifically to Disney, but boy, what an opportunity they created for Penn's former content partner. But we will align as both an anchor and a complementary service wherever it makes sense.

也謝謝你提出這個問題，Sharanjit。我想說，正如太陽將在西方落下一樣，捆綁報價和聯盟將會增加。我們一直相信這一點，並且我們將適當地利用這些機會。即使對於彼得剛才談到的我們的高級智慧捆綁包，我們每週都會收到新的詢問和請求，希望成為其中的一部分。因此，我不會專門針對迪士尼，但是天哪，他們為佩恩的前內容合作夥伴創造了多麼好的機會。但只要有必要，我們將同時作為錨點和補充服務。

There are no further questions at this time. With that, we will conclude the CuriosityStream second quarter earnings call. I would like to thank everyone for joining us today. Have a great evening. You may now disconnect.

目前沒有其他問題。至此，我們將結束 CuriosityStream 第二季財報電話會議。我要感謝大家今天加入我們。祝您有個美好的夜晚。您現在可以斷開連線。